23 June 2010

President Barack Obama has relieved Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal of his duties as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. McChrystal has been replaced with CENTCOMM Commander Gen. David Petraeus, White House officials said.

The President reportedly had a half hour private session with McChrystal, whom he summoned from Kabul. The general had to personally address comments that he and aides made to Rolling Stone, slamming the president, vice president and his national security team. The article is entitled "The Runaway General" and is scheduled to publish in later this week. According to excerpts, when the writer asked an aide about a dinner that the genera;l clearly did not want to attend, the aide replied, "Some French
minister. It's so f_cking gay."

Speaking in the Rose Garden, the President said McChrystal's comments did "not meet the standards that should be set by a commanding general. It undermines the civilian control of the military... and erodes the trust that is necessary for our team to work together to achieve our objectives in Afghanistan."

Watch the President speak, as well as ABC NEWS and FOX's reports AFTER THE JUMP ...

15 June 2010

Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, briefly collapsed during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Afghanistan. Petraeus collapsed during questioning by Sen. John McCain, reports The Hill.

"Petraeus was about to answer a question when he went silent
and passed out in front of the microphone. He quickly recovered, but the
hearing went into recess and Petraeus was able to walk out under his own
power. He later returned to the hearing room and joked that
he had felt 'lightheaded' — but that the condition was not caused by
questioning from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). 'I just got
dehydrated,' Petraeus said. Despite Petraeus wanting to go ahead
with the hearing, chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) postponed it until
Wednesday."

Last year, Petraeus received treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, reports The Chicago Tribune.

In related news: You may recall that in February, the CENTCOMM commander said that troops in the field probably didn't care if fellow soldiers were gay or lesbian.

From a preliminary internal investigation the Marines in question stated they were subject to unwanted verbal advances, that they were closely followed, and that a threat was communicated by a member of the other party. Col David Robinson, Commanding Officer, MAG-31 stated. "Although this certainly does not justify the actions of the Marine who punched the individual, it is important for us to consider both sides of the story."

"The United States Marine Corps does not tolerate discrimination or violence of any kind between military members and the citizens we defend," said Col. David Robinson, commanding officer, MAG-31. "Military authorities and civilian agencies are cooperating. As the investigations shed more light onto the situation, the appropriate actions will be taken regarding the uniformed service members involvement and if it is determined that civil or criminal laws were broken, the individuals will be held fully accountable."

The Marines are identified as 22-year-old Keil Joseph Cronauer and 23-year-old Christopher Charles Stanzel. They were booked into Chatham County jail on misdemeanor battery charges, released to military police and currently restricted to MCAS Beaufort.

Twenty-six-year-old Kieran Daly suffered bruising to the brain and two seizures immediately after the attack. Daly remains hospitalized and denies coming onto the soldiers. The victim says he "only came out six months ago."

If these Iraq War vets were "threatened" by a gay man allegedly "winking" at them and making "verbal advances", I'd seriously hate to see them on patrol in Baghdad.

"[A police] officer rushed to the intersection and found 26-year-old Kieran Daly unconscious, with friends performing emergency first aid, a report stated. The officer caught up with the two men who were running, identified as 22-year-old Keil Joseph Cronauer and 23-year-old Christopher Charles Stanzel. Police records show both men are stationed at Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, S.C. Cronauer and Stanzel told police they were being harassed by a gay man and wanted to get away from him. But witnesses painted a different picture, according to the report.

"They told police before the men were seen dashing away from Johnson Square, one of them grew angry because they thought Daly was winking at them and struck Daly in the back of the head with his fist, knocking him unconscious. Saturday night, from his bed at Memorial University Medical Center, Daly insisted he tried to convince the Marines he was not winking at them. 'The guy thought I was winking at him,' Daly said. 'I told him, 'I was squinting, man. ... I'm tired.' Daly said one of the men told him he demanded respect because he served in Iraq. And at least one hurled slurs at him as he tried to walk away. 'That's the last thing I remember is walking away,' Daly said."

Cronauer and Stanzel were booked into Chatham County jail on misdemeanor battery charges and later released to military police, report the Chronicle and the Savannah Morning News. The Savannah Police Department's LGBT liaison is investigating.

The victim suffered bruising to the brain and two seizures immediately after the attack. To add insult to the already serious injuries: Georgia does not have a hate crimes statute and the victim says he "only came out six months ago". Probably not the coming out party that he expected.

UPDATE:Cronauer and Stanzel apparently have computer privileges while in Marine "custody". Their Facebook pages are now locked.

10 June 2010

David Mcintosh has taken a new job. The 24-year-old former Royal Marine commando who shot to fame as BQ Sex Siren "Tornado" on
the British television series Gladiators is now a mercenary in Iraq, reports The Sun.

"The tattooed former Royal Marine earns £7,500 [$11,020] a month dodging bullets to protect supply lines to the US military.Last week he was nearly blown to bits by a roadside bomb in Basra. It's a far cry from his tongue-in-cheek TV role playing Gladiator villain Tornado. But David, 24, said the job was a "buzz" and the money will allow him to invest in a fitness firm. He said: 'Out here you could be killed any minute but I wouldn't change my job for the world. Gladiators was good but the money wasn't. Yes, I'm risking my life but this is what I was trained to do.'

[McIntosh] was a Marine for seven years and took a sabbatical to film Sky's revamped Gladiators. But when the series was axed last May he quit the Forces to became a freelance soldier. His first mission was protecting merchant ships from pirates off the coast of Somalia. Now he operates with ex-Special Forces troops patrolling Iraqi highways. Recalling the roadside bomb, he said: 'Luckily they detonated it seconds too soon. The main blast missed my vehicle. I've got used to getting hit with mortars, rockets and taking incoming fire so it doesn't really affect me.'"

26 April 2010

Another day, another gay or lesbian servicemember is discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Reversing an earlier decision, the United States Air Force will separate lesbian Lt. Robin R. Chaurasiya who was allowed to remain in uniform despite declaring her sexuality. In February, an Air Force general ruled Chaurasiya should not be discharged because she declared her sexual to avoiding military service.

Chaurasiya left active duty in 2007 after serving one year. She was
recalled to active duty in 2009 because of Iraq and Afghanistan. That's when she was outed, reports the Los Angeles Times.

"Chaurasiya's case began in July after a male former officer
she once dated had provided her commanding officer with evidence that
she was a lesbian. The Air Force dismissed that complaint. But
afterward, Chaurasiya, feeling slighted, decided to declare that she was
a lesbian. In December, she and her partner were joined in a civil
union in New Hampshire. A subsequent Air Force investigation
found credible evidence she was a lesbian, but determined she had
declared her sexual orientation in an attempt to get out of military
service. The general in charge refused to remove her. The Air
Force on Monday suggested the decision to discharge her resulted from
new evidence. Chaurasiya said her partner was interviewed to determine
if their civil union was real. Chaurasiya said she does not
regret publicizing her situation. "Part of repealing the policy is
demonstrating how arbitrarily it is implemented," she said. "As long as
we are raising awareness about problems in the policy, it was worth it."

You may recall that earlier this year another lesbian Air Force officer, Sgt. Jene Newsome, was also forcibly outed by a third party.

11 March 2010

To help "repair" Tiger Woods' image and "facilitate his wildly anticipated comeback." Srsly.

Two sources in the golf community have told The Post that Ari
Fleischer, the former presidential advisor to George W. Bush and the man
who was brought in to help repair the steroid-shattered image of Mark
McGwire, has been huddling with Woods, plotting a strategy for his
return to golf — at the Arnold Palmer Invitational starting March 25 at
Bay Hill in Orlando, Fla. “They were in his living room this week
going over a strategy for how to handle Bay Hill in two weeks,” one source told The Post.

Knowing
he eventually has to stand before everyone publicly and take questions—something he didn’t do in that bizarre orchestrated 131⁄2-minute ramble
on Feb. 19—is why Woods sought out the advice of Fleischer, who in
2008 formed Ari Fleischer Sports Communications. The firm, which
focuses on crisis response and control, is a joint venture with IMG
Sports & Entertainment. Woods is represented by IMG. Fleischer,
who served as presidential press secretary from January 2001 to July
2003 before leaving for a career as a consultant, worked with McGwire
after the disgraced slugger had gone into hiding following his
embarrassing refusal to answer questions about his steroid use before a
congressional committee in 2005.

The New York Post neglects to mention Ari Fleischer's other credentials: As the White House spokesman in the lead-up to the Iraq War, the accuracy of many of Fleischer's claims has been disputed, to put it mildly. And Fleischer was an instrumental figure in the Valerie Plame case and later testified that he had revealed the CIA agent's identity to
reporters.

29 January 2010

Does protocol demand the Joint Chiefs of Staff remain impassive and unemotional during presidential addresses? Joe Jervis notes thePentagon brass "lept to their feet to applaud" the president's threat to destroy Iran's nuclear ambitions (below) while they remained grim-faced during the mention of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (above).

Rob Smith is a black gay Iraq War veteran. Writing at the Huffington Post, the New York City-based writer and After Elton contributor say it was "incredulous" the "supposed military leaders watched our president with absolute revulsion as he announced his steps to end" the failed policy.

I'm a gay Iraq war veteran, and I believe President Obama has been the
greatest ally to LGBT people and gay veterans that we've ever had in a
President. The risks he takes by simply including us in his plans to
move forward with America continue to be vastly underestimated by most
people, though I believe he will do much more, as evidenced by his
words last night. To those supposed leaders of the United States
military who watched our president with absolute revulsion as he
announced his steps to end this, to those men whose faces brought back
the memories of every time I was called a "faggot" while I served and
forced to keep any affirmative response bottled up, thus "out" myself
and lose all that I had risked everything for, I have this to
say: gay veterans aren't worthless. I'm not worthless. The blood I shed
was the same as every other soldier's, the tears I cried were the same,
the bullets that I dodged the same; the life that I risked is the same.
I'm not worthless or perverted or sick, and neither is any other gay
person in this world, veteran or not. I was a gay soldier.

In 1999, at 17, I entered the United States Army from a small town
in Ohio, needing to find both a way in life and a way to finance the
college education I so desperately needed to rise above my lower-middle
class roots. My burgeoning sexuality was but a small thought in my
mind, not really knowing what "gay" was, let alone whether it really
described me, but that question would be answered in my mind during my
formative years, which just so happened to be spent in the U.S. Army...

I'll tell you what serving in the military under DADT did to me: It
made my sexual orientation a secret shame which was never to be
discussed under threat of dishonorable discharge and revocation of my
benefits. It kept me distant from my fellow soldiers, for if I were to
slip up and say a little too much about the real me for even a second,
I couldn't trust that they wouldn't turn me in and end my career in a
matter of weeks. It stunted my emotional and sexual development as a
gay man so much that I was in my mid twenties before falling in love
for the first time, something that happens for most people in their
late teens. It sent me into the wrong places looking for the romantic
affection that my heterosexual fellow soldiers were able to openly
practice, discuss, and experience without the threat of disciplinary
action. Most hurtful of all, being constantly reminded through DADT
that my sexual orientation was bad, wrong, and perverted instilled a
feeling of worthlessness in me that took years to undo following my
honorable discharge from the military.

Smith, who previously was on VH1's I Want to Work for Diddy, co-hosts the After Elton's Mocha Lounge vlog.

14 December 2009

Speaking today at Georgetown University, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a number of remarks on worldwide LGBT rights. (Full text HERE) Clinton described the proposed Ugandan bill that seeks the death penalty for gays as "oppressive" and expanded after her remarks:

There have been organized efforts to kill and maim gays and lesbians in some countries that we have spoken out about, and also conveyed our very strong concerns about to their governments... Then the example that I used of a piece of legislation in Uganda which would not only criminalize homosexuality but attach the death penalty to it. We have expressed our concerns directly, indirectly, and we will continue to do so. The bill has not gone through the Ugandan legislature, but it has a lot of public support by various groups, including religious leaders in Uganda. And we view it as a very serious potential violation of human rights.

So it is clear that across the world this is a new frontier in the minds of many people about how we protect the LGBT community, but it is at the top of our list because we see many instances where there is a very serious assault on the physical safety and an increasing effort to marginalize people. And we think it’s important for the United States to stand against that and to enlist others to join us in doing so.

Clinton becomes the most senior member of the Obama Administration to personally speak against the bill. On Friday evening, after weeks of prodding, the White House finally issued a statement condemning the legislation.

Full text of Secretary Clinton's remarks are HERE. Watch the secretary's remarks AFTER THE JUMP.

11 November 2009

Phil Reese at Ameriqueer is an amazing young Twitter-based progressive and gay activist. Phil just produced this powerful new video that calls all progressive political allies the—Twitter hashtag is #P2—and asks, "When do #LGBT issues get their turn?"

Phil writes: "Anti-war actions, anti-racism efforts, environmental efforts, and anti-domestic violence efforts. I've been there, simply, because I've been called on to do so. The leaders in these movements have made it very clear that if you're really a progressive, you must show action on these issues. ... When do LGBT issues get their turn?"